


untouched

by Skyuni123



Series: Stargate SG-1 Series 1: One Fic Per Episode [1]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Arguing, Coda, Episode: s01e05 The Broca Divide, Feminist Themes, Gen, Misogyny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27610670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyuni123/pseuds/Skyuni123
Summary: sam and daniel have a conversation about anthropology.it's actually more of an argument.-coda to the broca divide.
Series: Stargate SG-1 Series 1: One Fic Per Episode [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018681
Kudos: 13





	untouched

“Survival of the fittest, really, Daniel?” I’m mad. I’m mad and it’s a problem. I don’t know if it’s the edge of the disease from P3X-797 wearing off or if it’s just reasonable anger, but I’m  _ mad.  _

At him, at the disease, at the rough memories of what I’m pretty sure I did to Jack, at the casual and ever-present misogyny that seems to permeate this base… I’m angry about it. It feels gross, and it feels  _ bad.  _

“Hello to you too, Sam.” Daniel says, very casually, from something or another that he’s translating.

“Hi.” I sit down opposite him, still very, very annoyed. “Can we talk?”

It’s less of a question, more of an imperative, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

“Yeah.” He sets his pen aside. “What about?” 

“P3X-797. You were just going to let that Touched rape that girl. And you were fine with it. How.” My voice is hollow, but my throat hurts. The thing is, I trust Daniel. I’ve trusted him almost since I first met him. And this… the fact that he and Jack didn’t even really have a  _ problem  _ with this- I hate it.

He felt like one of the few people outside of the rampant bullshittery that the military just lived with. Now, I’m not so sure.

He sighs, and squeezes a hand over the bridge of his nose for a moment. “It was nothing personal, it’s just observational. We’re not supposed to intervene with primitive societies. It’s one of the earliest things you learn as an anthropologist.” 

“I don’t care if it wasn’t personal, Daniel.” I’m trying so hard to moderate my voice, keep my tone level, try and sound reasonable. I’ve been called hysterical before for speaking my opinion, for making a ‘fuss’. I don’t think he’ll say the same, but now I just don’t know.

I’m  _ hurt,  _ about this. It hurts. “We intervene every day. That’s how we found Teal’c, that’s how we’ve left many societies through the gate.”

“It’s not the same.” He says, quietly, dully. He’s having trouble meeting my eyes.

“Fine. Fine. Whatever.” I sit back in my chair, staring down at him. “She was one of the Untouched. Developed society. Medicine, food, arable land, drinking water, a society. Like us, perhaps, in a few hundred years, if they’re lucky. Easy enough to compare to us right now. If it was one of us. Me, Jack, Teal’c - in that situation, would you have let it happen, too? Would it have been survival of the fittest then, too?”

Daniel sighs, and slumps back in his chair. There’s a lot of annoyance in his eyes, but perhaps, a little regret too. “It’s not the same.”

“Not the  _ same?  _ Why, because you know us? Because we’ve created some kind of relationship here?”

“Because you’re not part of that  _ society. _ ” He says. “You didn’t live your life under that society’s rules. You’re an outlier, something different.”

“I can’t take that as an answer, Daniel.” He’s not  _ getting it.  _ I doubt anyone here will. It’s exhaustion that makes me stand up, a sheer annoyance, stubbornness of will. “I just can’t.”

He grabs my shoulder before I can leave, turns me back to face him. It’s not violent, nothing dangerous, doesn’t hurt, but I flinch back instinctively anyway.

I can see the look in his eyes, momentary panic, a little anxiety, almost a realisation. “Why does this matter so much to you?”

That’s not for him to know. Not right now, not when my anger’s on a knife’s edge, not when I could yell and scream and cry. Not now. “If you want a society to examine, look at the Air Force. Look at our rules and how our culture works. Look at the imbalances. If you honestly think I’ve worked in this place for ten years and not seen horrors, you’re living on another plane.”

He still looks stricken. I have nothing at all to give him, and in all honesty, I don’t want to wipe the fear from his face. If he’s not considered it by now, he has to. 

“Basic human empathy, Daniel. That’s all it is. Studying human cultures on earth isn’t that far off from studying human cultures on other planets.” I swallow, heavily, anger simmering lower. It’s still there, I’m still annoyed…

But I’m less likely to punch him in the face. “You might need to reconsider your thinking.”

And with that, I leave.

I don’t look back.

**Author's Note:**

> very cool and fun how stargate sg-1 managed to have several episodes that featured rape and/or assault and managed to say nothing important about it eh
> 
> hit me up on the [ tumblr ](http://eph-em-era.tumblr.com)


End file.
